Calapan (City of Calapan)
Calapan, officially the City of Calapan (Lungsod ng Calapan), is a 3rd class component city and capital of the province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 145,786 people.
The city serves as the gateway to the Oriental Mindoro province with the implementation of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH) an integrated ferry project of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that extends further to the southern part of the Philippines. The Calapan City Seaport is the largest and busiest seaport on Mindoro Island, which is just 45 minutes away by ferry boats and roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ships to-and-fro Batangas City International Seaport.
Calapan is one of two cities in the Mimaropa region, the other being Puerto Princesa in Palawan. Calapan serves as the region's administrative center. It is also the center of commerce, industry, transport, communication, religious activities and education in the entire province of Oriental Mindoro.
The derivation of the name of Calapan cannot be traced with certainty. Some opined that it came from the word “Kalap” which means to gather logs. Thus “Kalapan” was supposed to be a place where logs were gathered. In the old records, however, there was never a mention of Calapan as a place where logs were produced or exported. Furthermore, huge forest trees where logs were produced certainly did not grow near the town, which was swampy. Another theory holds that Calapan was originally pronounced as “Kalapang” which, according to an old Tagalog dictionary, was a synonym for “sanga” or branch. It could then refer to the settlement of Kalapang as a branch of its mother town of Baco, an adjoining town. The name was later hispanized as Calapan.
The city serves as the gateway to the Oriental Mindoro province with the implementation of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH) an integrated ferry project of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that extends further to the southern part of the Philippines. The Calapan City Seaport is the largest and busiest seaport on Mindoro Island, which is just 45 minutes away by ferry boats and roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ships to-and-fro Batangas City International Seaport.
Calapan is one of two cities in the Mimaropa region, the other being Puerto Princesa in Palawan. Calapan serves as the region's administrative center. It is also the center of commerce, industry, transport, communication, religious activities and education in the entire province of Oriental Mindoro.
The derivation of the name of Calapan cannot be traced with certainty. Some opined that it came from the word “Kalap” which means to gather logs. Thus “Kalapan” was supposed to be a place where logs were gathered. In the old records, however, there was never a mention of Calapan as a place where logs were produced or exported. Furthermore, huge forest trees where logs were produced certainly did not grow near the town, which was swampy. Another theory holds that Calapan was originally pronounced as “Kalapang” which, according to an old Tagalog dictionary, was a synonym for “sanga” or branch. It could then refer to the settlement of Kalapang as a branch of its mother town of Baco, an adjoining town. The name was later hispanized as Calapan.
Map - Calapan (City of Calapan)
Map
Country - Philippines
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Negritos, some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Adoption of animism, Hinduism and Islam established island-kingdoms called Kedatuan, Rajahnates, and Sultanates. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer leading a fleet for Spain, marked the beginning of Spanish colonization. In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. Spanish settlement through Mexico, beginning in 1565, led to the Philippines becoming ruled by the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. During this time, Catholicism became the dominant religion, and Manila became the western hub of trans-Pacific trade. In 1896, the Philippine Revolution began, which then became entwined with the 1898 Spanish–American War. Spain ceded the territory to the United States, while Filipino revolutionaries declared the First Philippine Republic. The ensuing Philippine–American War ended with the United States establishing control over the territory, which they maintained until the Japanese invasion of the islands during World War II. Following liberation, the Philippines became independent in 1946. Since then, the unitary sovereign state has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a decades-long dictatorship by a nonviolent revolution.
Currency / Language
ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
---|---|---|---|
PHP | Philippine peso | ₱ | 2 |
ISO | Language |
---|---|
EN | English language |
TL | Tagalog language |